``Bank of America Corp. agreed to pay $404 million to Freddie Mac to settle claims related to bad mortgages the bank sold to the housing finance giant, the companies said Monday. The settlement resolves all disputes between the two firms related to home loan deals during the subprime housing boom, BofA said.... and... releases the bank from potentially being forced to repurchase about 716,000 mortgages originated from 2000 to 2009.''